X-Men: The Beautiful People Pt2
by Cap808
Summary: Warren Worthington III take the X-Men public, and one of the X-Men takes an unwanted visit to the Weapon X facility. And who the heck are Logan and Wade? Please read and review part 2!


**X-Men: The Beautiful People Pt. 2**

**New York City**

Scott Summers held onto Wanda Maximoff as they finished their last dance of the night. Wanda loved dancing, and this club's extended hours provided her a lot of opportunities to do so. As a couple, they attracted a lot of attention, and this particular club's bouncers were great at giving a lot of personal space to celebrities and other beautiful people.

Wanda had already gained fame as a model, her face and body gracing the covers of magazines such as Vogue, GQ, Maxim, and even Sports Illustrated. Scott on the other hand, had recently gained a whole lot of unwanted press due to Warren Worthington III, telling everyone how the young mutant he had code-named, Cyclops, had rescued the adored philanthropist, Tony Stark.

Warren Worthington III had gotten wind that Stark was about to do a tell-all book about his rescue, complete with a movie deal. So Worthington decided to introduce the world to the X-Men before Stark could. At first, Scott Summers was furious with him, believing that this attention would blow all future covert operations for them.

While Scott and Warren debated about revealing Scott's identity as Cyclops, Warren was already telling the world his secret identity as the winged hero known as the Angel. Once that was announced, Warren went on to explain how he was funding a team of super powered individuals known as, the X-men.

The name 'X-Men' had that certain 'something' to it. The public loved it! There was so much to tell about the X-Men and the heroes who were on the team, and Warren decided to give their exclusive interview to Oprah. The thought was that her audience size was so big, and her credibility was unquestioned. If she embraced the X-men, so would the world.

Prior to the publicity parade starting, Warren and his people had done their marketing research and did all the sample sizing. Through that they came up with code names for everyone on the team. Then came the personal stylists.

Pietro Maximoff, who previously worked as Wanda's one-man security team, would now be known to the world as Quicksilver. Pietro had been indifferent when given his new code name, but when the endorsement offers started pouring in, he made it a point to personally thank Warren.

Wanda had wanted the code name, The Scarlet Witch, but the brand testing on the name wasn't positive, and after some debate, they decided on simply, Scarlet. Wanda was on top of the world right now. Not only was she rich and famous, but so were her brother and boyfriend. A girl could get used to this!

Sitting at the club's bar, Warren spoke with the X-men's newest recruit, Shiro Yoshida, code named, Sunfire. Yoshida was already Japanese royalty, so the attention given to the team didn't bother him. This was his chance to become a platform for all of his beliefs. Eventually people would listen to him. And he had a lot to say.

Warren and Shiro were interrupted by the beautiful, Ororo Munroe, recently code named, Storm. Upon coming to America, Ororo often worked nights, becoming a famous club DJ. Her work had garnered her a huge underground following. Occasionally hanging out with the Kardashian sisters only helped to expand her brand.

"Warren," she began. "Have you heard from Hank? He was supposed to be here."

Warren smiled and shrugged. For the life of him, he couldn't believe how lucky Hank McCoy was. He was the biggest, strongest, and probably smartest of the group, and he had somehow captured Storm's heart in record time. Warren shrugged, the Beast was built like a gorilla, but spoke like a poet. Everyone on the team loved him.

"No," Warren said. "Haven't spoken to him for a couple of days. He did say he'd be here."

Ororo was more than a little concerned. Hank wasn't the irresponsible type. His cell phone was off, and if he wasn't here with them when he said he would be, then something was wrong.

"He mentioned something about touring a research facility in Canada." Warren offered.

"This isn't like him," Ororo declared. "I'm going to look for him."

Warren thought about it for a second, then offered, "Storm, wait. We're only going to be here for a little while longer. I've already contacted the paparazzi so they can catch us leaving. Please stay with us, and if he doesn't show by the time we leave, we'll all go look for him."

Ororo let Warren's words sink in and nodded. She didn't agree with everything Warren did, but she trusted him. She trusted all of the X-men. They were about to make a splash on the world, and with some of the things they were planning to do, they needed to believe in each other. So far no one gave her a reason not to.

Flash bulbs and neon lights exploded at the club's doorways as the X-men made their exit. People yelled out their names in adoration, and why not? The world loved beautiful people. First it was a limo ride to the airport, then a private helicopter back to Warren's mountain estate. Traveling this way wasn't a necessity, but it sure was nice.

**Canada - Top Secret Weapon X Facility**

Earlier that week Hank McCoy decided to accept VIP invitation to tour a bioengineering lab in Canada. Supposedly, the lab was making exciting advances in plant mutations, and his interest in Genetically Modified Organisms got the best of him. With the world's population booming, plans needed to be put in place to ensure food resources kept up.

They had put him up in an epic hotel suite, and the room service was exquisite! That first morning Hank decided to do a bit of Crossfit, before the tour. The hotel concierge had recommended the forest directly across the hotel, it was supposed to be tourist friendly.

The forest was a lot more dense than Hank was led to believe, but he liked it. Along with the jog, Hank was looking forward to taking to the trees and swinging. He might have to bring Ororo here one day.

Hank's senses had always been superior, and his instincts were just as sharp. On the fateful day that he met both Scott Summers and Warren Worthington III, every instinct he had told him that there was…something about them. Confidently, Hank approached them. After getting past their initial hesitations, they discussed their uniqueness at length.

Hank smiled but realized he had done it again. He had gotten so lost in thought that he distracted himself from his surroundings. Now deep into the hiking trail, a military helicopter had come out of nowhere!

The black helicopter deployed a giant, steel-mesh net, trapping Hank like an animal. He cursed himself for being so stupid. Even with its stealth option, he knew that he should have heard it closing in on him from miles away!

Sadly, that was earlier in the week. Currently, Hank found himself strapped onto a gurney in a room that would not be passing a health inspection any time soon. These people weren't playing around, the straps were made of some very flexible, but sturdy, metal.

Hank was observed by more doctors and scientists than he could count. That wasn't true. He had counted 17 different individuals observing him throughout the day. It infuriated him that they would discuss his physiology with each other like he couldn't hear them, or worse yet, that he couldn't understand them!

As upset as he was, Hank decided that silence was the best course of action at this time. By listening, he learned that they were injecting him with large doses of a 'healing factor' that this facility had been experimenting with. Served them right for being so condescending, now what could Hank do with that information?

He also learned that there were two other mutants in the facility who were the donors, so to speak, of this healing factor. Logan and Wade. Unfortunately, Hank had heard that so far, no mutant had survived the transfusion process. These quacks hypothesized that someone with the combination of his mental and physical capacities, had a better chance.

Fevered and nauseous, Hank had had enough. He had been working on his restraints for the past few days, and just recently the straps on his feet had loosened enough for his toes to reach a knife that was left on a tray by his feet. They had no clue that his feet and toes were dexterous enough for him to use like hands and fingers.

Cutting free of the restraints, and stumbling out of the room, Hank encountered several of the facility's guards, and easily incapacitated all of them. He hated violence, but when left with no recourse, he could do what had to be done. Approaching an exit, Hank ran into a room housing none other than Logan and Wade.

They were both strapped to gurneys, and both were drugged with an IV's going into one arm, and blood being removed through another. Hank rushed over to help them.

"Hey, big guy," Wade said weakly. "Are you here for my sponge-bath?"

"No!" Hank said almost too quickly. "I'm going to get you both out of h…."

Before he could finish, two gunshots rang out, and two bullets punctured his back.

Hank spun to face his attackers, dodging the next two shots fired. Leaping towards the man with the gun, he fell to his knees in pain. Desperate, he swiped at their legs and knocked them both down. A couple of well-placed haymakers later, and they were both unconscious.

Hank crawled back in Wade's direction, but before he could do anything, someone from behind him yelled, "Freeze!"

Hank had no choice. He jumped forward, and leapt out of the room's lone window. A rain of bullets chased him out of the tiny opening, and he fell to the ground, in a world of pain.

"Come back!" Wade yelled after him.

Hank looked up at the window he had just jumped out of, and several guns pointed out at him. Hank thought he heard his heart beating extremely loud, but realized that had it been his heart, it wouldn't have made the grass around him whip back and forth. Instead it was the propeller from another helicopter!

Hank sighed, almost resigned to his fate, but then a bright red laser beam shot outwards from the helicopter and blew up the window full of guns. Hank recognized the optic blast belonging to his friend, Scott Summers. The X-Men had found him!

Cyclops and Quicksilver quickly loaded Hank into the helicopter, and Hank chuckled. Here were these two trained mercenaries, dodging bullets trying to save him, and all he could think about was the first time they all worked out together in the gym. Scott and Pietro kept adding weights to the bench press, and Hank kept lifting it. They began to call him a Beast, and the name stuck.

On the helicopter, Storm fretted as Hank passed out from his bullet wounds. He was weak and he was burning up, but he was still breathing. Storm almost fainted when she saw the two bullets push themselves out through his back. With her hands on him, she watched as the wounds began to close, instantly healing themselves.

"What did they do to you?" she whispered.

**Hickam Air Force Base – Honolulu, Hawaii**

Carol Danvers had been in the Air Force for years. She thought she had seen it all. Today, was a whole new lesson for her. Standing in front of her was a physical specimen. Most Americans knew him as an urban legend, or a folk hero at best, but she was staring at someone who was very real.

When the rescue teams had contacted her, they originally just called in a dead body that might be 'of some interest', to her. When she arrived in Hawaii, she wasted no time in going to the lab that he was being held in, because mid-flight she had gotten a call saying he was alive! Who would have thought after all these years, the man the world once knew as Captain America, would see the 21st Century?

**Los Angeles, California**

Tony Stark sat and enjoyed his 'beverage'. It was only 10am, but he needed something to keep him motivated. Warren Worthington III had just announced his team of X-Men, and it would take all momentum away from Stark's latest project!

Major Ben Grimm had phoned him for a meeting of great importance, and Tony had wanted to do a little showing off. Worthington's speech may have taken a little air out of Tony's big reveal, but he was pretty sure that Major Grimm would generate some interest of his own. A decade ago, the man had been in, and survived, a spaceship collision!

Walking over to the constructive side of his incubator workshop, Tony gently kicked all the power tools to the side. He put his hand on the metal suit and admired his handiwork. It was big and it was powerful. It was also very dangerous, the flight system on it still needed work, and the ammunition in the suit was volatile, but it could still be an asset to the American people.

Tony had been on edge, and he would admit, shaken, ever since he saw video footage of mutants like Cyclops and Sunfire, using their…gifts. While he was thankful that Cyclops had used those same gifts to rescue him, the X-Men would eventually need to be regulated. That would probably be the only way that he, and the American people, would feel safe.

Sadly, Tony wouldn't dream of putting himself into the suit. His time as a prisoner had helped him appreciate his life a whole lot more. Instead, he was going to leave the testing and responsibility of this suit to his pal, and bodyguard, James Rhodes.

**Colorado Mountains – Remote Estate of Warren Worthington III**

A week later the team sat around a conference table, listening to Warren as he displayed several pictures on the large monitor in front of them. It was aerial footage of the Weapon X Facility that they had rescued Hank from just two days ago. It had since been destroyed and abandoned.

"Whoever these people were," Scott Summers began, "They are officially no longer on the radar. Everything on the ground level has been totally incinerated."

Hank sighs.

"Sorry, Hank," Warren added. "We don't know if there's any way we can find them again."

Hank nodded. "I understand completely, Warren. On that note, I have a young friend named Peter Parker, who had set up a series of tests for me with his professor, a Dr. Curt Connors. Thankfully, all they seem to show is that the whole experience, as negative as it was, has left me with a new healing factor."

"Thank goodness," Ororo Munroe said dryly, while slapping Hank on the back.

"Rest assured, Hank," Scott says. "We plan to find these people."

"Damn straight!" the fiery Shiro Yoshida, added.

"My sincerest gratitude, comrades," Hank grinned.

"Okay," Scott continued. "On to our next subject. Supposedly there's a mutant in New York City running around and fighting crime at night."

"That is an affirmative," Warren announced proudly. "And the X-Men are going to take him down as a favor to the city of New York!"

Unimpressed, Wanda Maximoff takes a look at the costumed individual on the screen.

"He looks…interesting."

"I've heard of him, sister," Quicksilver responded. "That's the guy the street thugs have started calling, 'The Punisher'."

**END PART 2**


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